Most Australians assume they’ll deal with retirement living and aged care when the time comes. The problem? By the time it does, the system has already made many of the decisions for you. In this episode, we unpack why delaying retirement and home care planning is one of the most expensive mistakes people make—not just financially, but emotionally and structurally.

Veronica Morgan and Chris Bates are joined by Mitch Hiam, COO of Balance Financial Group, to explain how Australia’s aged care and home care systems really work—and why recent reforms are quietly changing the rules. They explore how “Support at Home,” means testing, maintenance costs, and wait times are pushing retirees into decisions earlier than expected, often under crisis conditions.

The conversation challenges deeply held assumptions about staying in the family home, downsizing, retirement villages, and intergenerational living. Mitch breaks down when home care works, when it doesn’t, and why time—not money—is the real currency in preserving choice and independence later in life.

This episode is essential listening for Gen X, older Millennials, investors, and anyone with ageing parents, offering a clear warning: if you don’t plan your retirement living early, the system will plan it for you.

Episode Highlights

00:00 — Introduction to Retirement Living Decisions

01:08 — Guest Introduction: Mitch Home from Balance Financial Group

01:48 — Challenges Faced by Retired Homeowners

04:05 — Importance of Early Planning for Home Care

09:07 — Government Policy Changes and Their Impact

16:00 — Financial Trade-offs and Family Dynamics

24:21 — Granny Flat Agreements and Multigenerational Living

26:31 — Inheritance and Financial Planning for Retirees

29:52 — Planning for Future Care Needs

30:29 — Making Better Property Decisions

31:37 — Understanding Retirement Villages

40:10 — Costs and Contracts in Retirement Villages

52:26 — Final Thoughts and Advice

About the Guest

Mitch Hiam is the Chief Operating Officer of Balance Financial Group, a specialist advisory firm focused on retirement planning, aged care strategy, and later-life financial decision-making. His work sits at the intersection of pensions, home care funding, residential aged care, downsizing, retirement villages, and intergenerational arrangements.

Mitch works closely with individuals and families navigating some of the most complex—and emotionally charged—decisions they will ever face. From proactive planning to crisis-driven aged care transitions, he brings frontline insight into how Australia’s systems actually operate, where people get caught out, and which decisions permanently limit future options.

Known for his plain-spoken, practical approach, Mitch helps Australians understand the financial reality behind retirement living—so they can make informed decisions early, rather than forced ones later.

Connect with Mitch

1. Mitch’s LinkedIn
2. Balance Retirement & Aged Care Specialists’ LinkedIn
3. Balance Retirement & Aged Care Specialists’ Website

Resources

1. Visit our website: https://www.theelephantintheroom.com.au
2. If you have any questions or would like to be featured on our show, contact us at:
3. The Elephant in the Room Property Podcast - questions@theelephantintheroom.com.au
4. Looking for a Sydney Buyers Agent? https://www.gooddeeds.com.au
5. Work with Veronica: https://www.veronicamorgan.com.au
6. Looking for a Mortgage Broker? alcove.com.au
7. Work with Chris: chrisbates@alcove.com.au

Enjoyed the podcast? Don't miss out on what's yet to come! Hit that subscription button, spread the word, and join us for more insightful discussions in real estate. Your journey starts now!

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See you on the inside,

Veronica & Chris

TEITR 423 : Mitch Hiam

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Veronica: ~Although just for the editor at the end of the last episode, I did say next episode, we've got a financial planner coming on, and we don't, we've got Mitch, he's not a~

CB: ~Yeah, that's what I was just thinking as ~

Veronica: How rising maintenance costs and care needs quietly change the math and why doing nothing is often the most expensive option. This conversation today will tackle the questions. Many retired homeowners and their families are already asking, but rarely get clear answers to.

​

Mitch: Thank you for having me look forward. I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited.

CB: ~Um, ~how do you guys play a role there?

Mitch: And I think to be brutally honest, what most people want to do is stay in their homes for as long as possible. No one wants to move into residential aged care. And,~ um,~ unfortunately the biggest issue with,~ uh,~ residential aged care or nursing homes is 77% of the people moving into residential aged care or nursing homes. It's not by choice. It's because they've had a fall, a medical incident, a stroke, and so they don't really have that choice and they don't have,~ uh,~ the right,~ uh,~ supports in place to help them stay at home for as long as possible. I.

Veronica: That's fascinating because we seem to. It seems to be that most people assume that they'll just work it out later when it comes to retirement, uh, living. And I guess that's risky from a financial perspective, but also I guess you've got a lack of choice. If you, uh, 77% are moving in sort of under duress, that means that they've left it to a point where they don't have the luxury of time.

Mitch: Yeah, definitely. And one of the biggest things that I do is I go out and do a lot of presentations for retirement villages and, uh, probus groups, just trying to get as much information out there as possible so people understand the current processes of the systems. Like at the moment,~ um,~ one of the biggest things that the government has changed recently was the,~ uh,~ legislation for residential aged care, but also for home care. And so people think, oh, I can just a apply for home care when I need it. But currently the wait times are astronomical. So people wait until they've had an incident, they go to hospital and they say, oh, I'd like to apply for,~ uh,~ home care. And they said, that's okay. There's a three month wait, and then you've got a further 12 to 18 month wait to receive funding.

Mitch: ~Um, ~and my biggest thing I, I tell,~ uh,~ retirees is apply early. As soon as you start to see that your care needs are declining, start applying. Yes, you don't need it right now, but you may need it in the future. And,~ um,~ we have so many people think, oh, actually I might start you know, doing that now.

Mitch: But I think with that generation,~ um,~ they're very tough and very stubborn and so they don't need help. ~ um,~ you know, but at some stage everyone will need help. And it's about having it available if you need it.

Veronica: You know what I mean? We are almost two years. I want you applying now. I know you don't need it. And so I guess depression needs to come from those that might actually be,~ um,~ forced to deal with the consequences. So that's, that's really stark it. I know it's probably a completely,~ um,~ inappropriate comparison, but it reminds me of when I was about to give birth and I knew that I wanted an epidural and it's like, don't leave it too late.

Veronica: 'cause then you might not be able to have one. So I went into the hospital going, I'm having one, so just send the anesthetist my way. So it's a little bit that same sort of approach. I think, you know, I'm gonna need help, so let's just get in before I need it.

Mitch: Yeah. And we have so many people come to us and say, I wish I'd known about you sooner, or, I wish I'd known about this. and I think that's the biggest thing we try and do. Yes, we're a financial company, but I see us more of a, a helping company, even though we are there for the finances, it's about trying to give as much information as possible.

Mitch: I think that's the big thing.

CB: So Mitch, like, ~um, ~you mentioned at the start, everyone wants to stay at their home. ~Um, ~you know, 70, 70 people in, 77% of people in age care retirement villages, you know, wasn't the choice. It was due to a lot of different reasons. So, ~um, ~even, you know, most of those don't want to be there. They want to be back in their old homes, and so.

CB: With home care,~ um,~ and people wanting to do it anyway. And the system's structured that way from, you know, tax free growth on their home and you can get the pension, all that sort of stuff. Like if you had to extrapolate out the next 20 years, which I think that part of the population's got a lot of,~ uh,~ people aging.

Mitch: Look, I think how I see the market changing, if anything is I think people will s. Are to look at downsizing like into smaller properties. So yeah, look, you've got some people that, you know, if you look around, most new builds are two story, right? ~Um, ~when you get to an age, some people can't go upstairs anymore.

Mitch: So I, or the, you know, the big five bedroom homes, the kids have all left. I only need a two bedroom now. You know, my partner's passed or whatever it may be. ~Um, ~I think people will be going into smaller. So I think people getting into smaller homes,~ um,~ all retirement villages, that's the alternative because it's not residential aged care.

Mitch: But a lot of our older generation now, they're on six, 800,000 square meter blocks. ~Um, ~and now under the new change for home care, as of the 1st of November, it's now called support At home is the home care system. Look, there are some benefits to it and there are some,~ um,~ bad, not bad sides, but things that, that they have to improve.

Veronica: Can we talk through what has changed?

Mitch: Yeah. So what's happened previously, home care was always income tested and, ~uh. ~There were long wait lists for,~ uh,~ home care. As I stated, it's almost two years at the moment, and the government has kind of stepped in and said, we wanna make a change. We, we need this to be better. They have now made support at home.

Mitch: Level four was about $62,000 worth of funding a year to use on whatever you wanted. The biggest issue that we had

Veronica: It's more than the pension.

Mitch: Now the, the biggest thing with the, the home care,~ uh,~ the level four package, which was the biggest one,~ um,~ is you could use the funding on whatever you wanted. ~Um, ~and so a lot of people either didn't use the package or would try and save it up for certain items.

Veronica: Right. So therefore, before you potentially could have had your house maintained and garden done, all the rest of it at no cost to you. Now if you, uh, have you know, access to funding, you now have to contribute or co contribute to those nonclinical services.

Mitch: even as a full pensioner. And this is.

Veronica: that's gonna change things, isn't it?

Mitch: I need food or something like that. And I think potentially those people in large gardens or, you know, big properties, it's gonna, it's either gonna be, what's more important? Is it my safety? Or, the funding, like the, the money that they have to spend, I guess.

Veronica: Well that, I mean, it will put financial pressure on them to sell the home. So before, like you were saying that, you know, you could be asset rich, cash poor, but it basically you're own your own home and you're just on the pension and you live fairly frugally, you know, you can just stay there for as long as your health keeps up.

Veronica: I mean, maybe that's the whole point of the government's, um,

Veronica: change.

Mitch: Well, I, the, the biggest thing is what they're trying to do is, like in some areas of Australia for residential aged care, for nursing homes, there is no vacancies. If you head up into southeast Queensland, there is a big wait list, massive. And so, ~um, ~even in parts of New South Wales and even other states as well, there's just a backlog.

Mitch: So like, self-funded retirees. ~Um, ~instead of using the home care package for the independence, uh, services, they've just been going private, so it's a little bit cheaper. And so, and paying privately for it. So there's little loopholes that we've seen people start to find, and I think the government's gonna make changes.

Veronica: I'm curious to know whether you've seen a sort of a change in, in people coming to your business for assistance in this as in the wake of these changes? It's funny 'cause over the years, you know, I've been now in real estate for 26 years. You know, I started off as a sales agent. We quite often would sell deceased estates and I was often horrified at the state of repair that elderly people have been living with, like dangerous stairs and, and like, you know, God, I mean, back in the day, you know, you'd have these, the old hot water heater that's sort of in the bathroom above the bath, you know, like really primitive in many cases.

Veronica: And you see these beneficiaries come outta the woodwork and it's like, wow, where were you when the old person was still alive and they needed some help around this house? 'cause the house has been falling down around their ears. So. It seemed to be, and that's we're talking about 20, 20 years ago now.

Veronica: They don't see things, they don't, you know, like some people are quite happy to sort of live in this decay, this, this slow, decaying environment. And other people are like, no, I, I don't want to, I, I really want to get into a newer, cleaner, easier environment where I'm not burdened by this, ~ um,~ responsibility to maintain a property. Are you seeing that people are starting to come to you and saying, I can't do it anymore? Or is it not making any difference yet? I don't know. What, what's the feeling in the ground from you?

Mitch: They walk inside and they say, oh, there's dishes out. Mom was never like that. What's going on? They notice there's a big change. But look, age care is further down the track. Age care on the average age at the moment is 83 for a male and 85 for a female. And so it, it's a fair way down the track. But in regards to the maintenance of their current homes and where they're living as they're getting older, I think,~ uh,~ touching on the maintenance bit that you said, there was a bit of research that we did in regards to, um, maintenance in, within a home across Australia is most people spend roughly between one to 4% on maintenance of their property each year. 1% is for people that,~ uh,~ have houses less than 10 years old.

Mitch: There's all these aspects of things, um, or people aren't visiting. So, going back to what I said before with, the, that older generation, ~um. ~They're really proud. They're, they're too proud to ask for help, to be brutally honest. So we only get the people who are preemptive and they're saying, look, the house is too big at the moment.

Mitch: So you can stay there as long as possible. You can still get your home care now with a retirement village, or they have different names, like over 50 fives, independent living units, retirement villages, they're still independent. You can still get home care within there. you don't have to do any maintenance 'cause the village does it. ~Um, ~and that's where we really have those conversations. For those people who are proactive and starting to look as, that's some of the comparisons we're looking at is, okay, well your maintenance on your current home, it's 30 plus years old. You are, you know, on a million dollar house, you are paying $40,000 a year just on, you know, upkeep and maintenance on

Veronica: Or it's declining ' cause they're not paying that money.

Mitch: exactly. ~Um, ~and so potentially it's looking at, okay, what's gonna be better for me? And look, everyone's goals and outcomes are gonna be different. ~Um, ~and so we we are just trying to help find the best outcome for those individuals.

CB: But they realized that maybe it was too broad. So then they've dialed it back just to health and yeah, maybe they're not doing the general per a lot of personal care and then maintenance and cleaning it and stuff around the house, but it's all your health is fine, then that means that then they'll probably still wanna stay there, right?

CB: Because they, that's what they ultimately wanna do and if they can afford to stay there, right? So they either get their kids to help, the kids might have to contribute, they'll use all their savings, but then the government's then got this reverse mortgage scheme that they say, Hey, oh, this is your final option is just access this home equity scheme, which is very attractive.

CB: 'cause this will allow you to stay in the home. Like, is, is that your view on what they're really trying to do? Because putting him down the age care isn't really, you know, a cheaper option for them on the, their sort of financials

Mitch: And there's, you know, organizations like OPN and a few others out there that can assist. ~Um, ~but that's where with the retirement villages, this is where I think the retirement villages will really start to push,~ um,~ and become a lot more popular is, as I mentioned before, there was the three categories.

Mitch: Your clinical, your, your independence, and your every day most of the services under every day. ~Um, ~under home care is what a retirement village provides to you. They have a bus that takes you to the shop, they do your maintenance. If anything breaks, they come and fix it. So a lot of those things that you pay for it, and that's where I think potentially people will go the retirement village option.

Mitch: Now for a granny flat right or agreement, you actually don't have to build a granny flat. A lot of people think, oh, I have to build a granny flat in the back of my home. If you don't, you can actually have a spare room for them in your home. It's in return. You just have to give them the right to occupy. So I think that could potentially be an option. And, and, and certain ethnic groups obviously do that really well already. ~Um, ~you know, we're, we're a multicultural country and it's fantastic and we see that with, you know, a lot of diverse,~ um,~ backgrounds where, you know, they take care of their parents first.

Veronica: So for listeners that are sort of interested in this topic and you haven't listened to last week's episode, ~uh,~ we interviewed a lawyer and we talked quite a bit about,~ uh,~ the granny flat phenomenon, if you wanna call it that. Um, certainly the legal aspects of retirement living decisions, particularly for the sandwich generation who are actively trying to help the parents out under these sorts of arrangements. I'm curious though, Mitch, how should retirees be thinking and actually their kids as well Now, you know, now you're bringing that in. ~Um, ~be thinking around the financial trade offs between downsizing, retirement villages, staying put with care, maybe amalgamating resources and, and living with family, but also in mind.

Veronica: ~Um, ~but you've also got a generation that standard benefit financially from the decisions that are made now. And they may not necessarily be always in the best interest of the parents. You know what I mean? There's a bit of a conflict inherent there. Can we talk to some of that?

Mitch: yeah, we see that all the time when, when we sit down with someone in the first 10 seconds, you can see if they're in it for their, for their best interest or for their parents' best interest. ~Um. ~And with the downsizing aspect of things, as I said, with the, when we're dealing with the individuals, they're looking at themselves.

Mitch: We really need to understand what they're trying to do. ~Um, ~some people who are self-fund retirees and have enough money to, to live off, they're like, well, I've got this spare money. Can I gift it to my kids? Can I do this to help out,~ um,~ while I'm still alive? Why don't I help them? Why do they have to wait?

Mitch: till I die before I help them? We also need to discuss with them, well, these are what your costs are gonna be if you need residential aged care in the future. So make sure you just don't give it all away. Or, you know, if you give your money to your kids and they run off, then what are you gonna do?

Mitch: So there assessors having nothing. Nothing. And I said that's good in some aspects, but it's very hard to find homes as someone, as a supported resident. So they don't have any assets or assets less than 63,000. ~Um, ~and so, ~uh. ~Or you might not get the nicest time. So, ~um, ~it, it depends on the individual, but yeah, we're really seeing that people want to have that conversation and prepare for that future.

Mitch: That's your number one ticket to try and stay out of age care for as long as possible. Then we can discuss retirement villages, downsizing, you know, what's mom's situation, what does she want to do, what does that mom and dad want to do? ~Um, uh, ~and then it kind of just leads from there,~ uh,~ what options we have available.

Veronica: I'm on a personal mission to help more people make better property decisions. You know, most people don't realize that they can cost themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars over the medium to long term when they make property decisions without all of the information that they need. And what I do is help people with tricky real estate problems, which offer masqueraders simple questions like, should I sell my investment property because the interest re payments are hurting, or should I buy before I sell?

Veronica: Or ask me for introduction to the small group of buyer agents that I would personally recommend across the country. That's Veronica Morgan dot com au.

Veronica: If you're considering a property move, which is buying your first time, upgrading, renovating, or investing, the team here at Alcove would love to help you think through your decision and get the finance right.

Veronica: Please go to cove.com au to reach out.

CB: Mitch, what do you think the age is though, where it starts to get a bit hard? Like so for example, is it, you know, there's like a window, right? When you sort of feel fit and healthy, you feel adventurous, you're willing to try, you know, try new things and make new friendships. And then there's a point where that sort of does decline and then all of a sudden the chance of wanting to just stay in that home for the rest of your life obviously increases a lot.

CB: The kids live and then definitely even the grandkids and ~um, ~you know, their friends and networks and all that sort of stuff are around this sort of pocket. They know the street, they know it feels so safe. So like staying at home is obviously a real preference for them moving in with the kids, takes 'em away from all their networks often, and it potentially, which kids do you move into?

CB: You know, you don't want to bird them. So just trying to think like, it's often we, you know, if you, if you miss that window and then a lot of those downsizes do miss the window because they've got kids coming there and those kids haven't bought a property, so they, they wanna hold onto their home for as long as possible because the kids are in apartments.

CB: So it's kind of like that all the factors sort of force people just to sort of stay ~ um,~ Do you agree with that?

Mitch: And there's so many different options now. Like obviously in Sydney, most of the people have houses that, that older generation, so selling and downsizing into an apartment,~ um,~ or a smaller property,~ um,~ they're still gonna have a little bit of money left over. And the retirement village, there are so many different villages with different prices and options available. ~Um, ~and there is a lot of vacancies in retirement village spaces. So I think that's, it could be a lot of, yeah, well look in some pockets there, there is full,~ um,~ some people wanna look for rental options. There's not a lot of rental options, but if you are doing the purchase option of,~ um, uh, ~buying into the village to an extent where you're, you're paying a, a, an ingoing contribution. ~Um, ~there is a lot of places, because there are so many, I do so many open days. 'cause they're just trying to sell.

Mitch: yeah. Both. So, so like,

Mitch: uh, '

Veronica: cause that's not what we keep hearing. We keep hearing there's a shortage of spaces. But again, you, you mentioned that there's a terminology, there's confusion as to what term refers to what type of care or what type of, um, residents. And so it's the aged care where they're higher dependency. That's a shortage, that big wait list. So you are saying the independent living at the under other end of the spectrum, it's actually,~ um,~ there's opportunity to, to buy.

Mitch: yeah, they're, they're building heaps. Like even in the inner west, in, in New South Wales, they're building, uh, there's two high, there's two different villages that are being built high rises and multiple. ~Um, ~I was just doing a sales one just before Christmas down in, uh. down in the Sutherland area. ~Um, ~they had a, they've got a brand new one where they've been building for long, long time and they're on their last little building and they're doing their own little community.

Mitch: But there are so many people that. I definitely believe they're stubborn. ~Um, ~where they just don't wanna move. And like, I use this example, my, we have a family friend,~ um,~ her father, he's now passed,~ um,~ but he lived up on the Central coast in New South Wales. And the daughter lived in Sydney and said, dad, come down, mom's passed. He was, you know, sitting in his own filth. He wasn't just coping by himself, she couldn't take him into the home 'cause her home was full. She had a, a, her kid and her grandkid there and she said,~ um,~ you know, you, you need care. You can't cope by yourself. And he goes, I will die before I go into residential aged care. He went into residential aged care, just on respite. They had to kind of trick him and say, look, it's respite first. If you don't like it, you can go home. They went to visit him after a couple of days and they said, oh, where's dad? And they said, oh, he is in, out in the lounge room doing something. And they went out there and he goes, Hey dad, I'm here to see you.

Mitch: It was like an old hospital. Now they're better than hotels, honestly, what you get within the homes,~ um,~ and they're fantastic. Look, they're not for everyone and you don't want to go into residential aged care. But even the retirement villages,~ um,~ they are just unbelievable the amount of support you can get. ~Um, ~the community in there, it's fan, it's fantastic. But is it for everyone? No.

Mitch: Yeah, definitely. So in retirement villages or independent living or over 55. Every different company has different contracts,~ um,~ different structures. And this is why we always suggest to people, you know, ~um, ~when you go compare, if you go on to look at a village, compare the different room prices, compare the different villages, 'cause it's all gonna affect you differently.

Veronica: And what could that be? Would that be a hundred thousand dollars, $5,000? Half a million? You know?

Mitch: Some of your older villages, you can get in for 300,000. ~Um, uh, ~even in other states I've seen, yeah, two 50. So, yeah. Depends where you are. A lot of your older ones are gonna be 300, 400, 500. ~Um, ~some of

Veronica: high

Mitch: that's low on the low end.

Veronica: low,

Mitch: Yeah. And then some of your brand new builds that you are getting,~ um,~ you're looking at, I was at one the other day, that was six mil.

Veronica: Yeah, I looked at one, actually two and a half. So three. Um, yeah,~ Um, ~

Mitch: So this was in, um, on the North Shore,~ um,~ views of the harbor,~ uh,~ views of skyline of the city. Six

Veronica: fair enough. That's cheap.

Mitch: Yeah. I'll buy three. ~Um, ~so,

Veronica: But you know, if, if you've just sold a house, it might be worth 15 mil or 10 mil or something. You know, that's, I mean, at that, in that,~ um, uh,~ demographic potentially.

Mitch: It has village operations, so your maintenance, your gardening, the upkeep of the general area. And so that's where I was mentioning before with the home care aspect of things. A lot of those stuff is within your, that last category of home care. ~Um, ~and so there your three big costs, your ingoing, your ongoing, and then your outgoing is that deferred management fee.

Veronica: Is that the way it sort of works? That type of,

Mitch: So most of the time they'll, they'll, they'll only show you the 30% option. ~Um, ~now look, it can change. Look, there are some companies that charge 35. You just gotta find what their model is. ~ um,~ so most companies will just advertise their price based on the 30% model. And then once you sit down and look at, you know, the two bedroom, the one bedroom, whatever it is, they say, well, actually, if you want the 10% option, you'll now pay 1.25 instead of 1 million.

Veronica: and so what scenarios would it be better to go and, you know, get the 10% deferred option versus the 30 or, or a higher deferred? You know, like what type of scenarios are we talking

Veronica: Like, you know what I mean? So what, what, what sort of things will, should people be considering?

Mitch: yeah, definitely. So the, to be really honest, what happens is, especially in Sydney, like, let's look at the Hills area as an example. So in the, the western part, northwest of Sydney,~ um,~ some of the retirement villages start at 500,000 as a 30% model. ~Um, ~500, 600. There are some new builds, but let's look at the older ones. We have a lot of people that are selling their homes in the hills for 1.5. ~Um, ~you know, sometimes $2 million. ~Um, ~so a lot of people go into the village and they think, oh, I'm gonna take the cheapest one. They think I'm gonna take a one bedroom 'cause that's all I need and it's gonna cost me 500,000. And then we had a chat to them and say, well, how about we look at spending more?

Mitch: So we're getting that a bit as well too at the moment.

Veronica: Here. Here's the thing too that I, I hear from a lot of people is that they wanna buy into a retirement village that also has an aged care facility, but. If there's a shortage of spaces in the aged care facility, what are the guarantees that if one of them needs higher care, they're gonna be able to go into that particular facility?

Veronica: Do they get preferential treatment?

Mitch: Yeah, good question. ~Um, ~yeah, look in, in some area, like there's, there's a home on the northern beaches,~ um,~ has a retirement village and aged care. ~Um, ~and everyone just wants to be in the retirement village for whatever reason. And the aged care is always full. The main reason it is always full is because they,~ uh, uh,~ prefer,~ um,~ the retirement village residents first.

Mitch: So especially if, if it's within the same company, so like a uniting and Anglicare a, you know, whoever it may be. ~Um, ~if you are in the retirement village, you'll take preference over the general public. ~Um, ~and so

Mitch: Yeah, I, and that's the thing, because if you are in a retire, and I know a lot of,~ uh,~ home care and retirement village companies are getting a lot better where they're talking to each other now. 'cause like a lot of your companies like Uniting and Ang Cares, they've got the Holy Trinity, they've got your home care, they've got the retirement village, they've got the age care. So while the people are in the retirement village, they can start having the question like they can see if people are starting to decline to start, prepare for that next stage. The only time that it might not work out perfectly is if, you know, unfortunately in aged care you're waiting for death. that's the game.

Mitch: And so if no one's dying, then you know, you, you're waiting. And so potentially if sometimes people have to find a home elsewhere for the time being until a bed becomes available in their preferred home, that does happen.

Veronica: They were in hospital for that time.

Mitch: Yes.

CB: It doesn't seem like the right episode. Ask for a property, Dumbo. ~Um, ~just being real. That's, but if you've got a, you know, maybe a lighter hearted one that's not,~ uh,~ too offensive. ~Um.~

Veronica: you know?

Mitch: Or do you know what I, I thought about this. 'cause I, I, I've listened before and I, I, thought of different ones and I thought I'd make it specific to, I guess, the elderly who we're talking about, right. Is because,~ um,~ I was trying to write down some different ones. 'cause I was like, it's not, they're not, it's not a dumb move by them.

Mitch: It's gonna affect one way or another. So at least if you compare all your options, you can find, you make,~ uh,~ the best financial decision,~ um,~ when moving into a retirement village. If you choose that.

Veronica: Home frame. To get things done. And yes, the retirement villagers usually give them a fair amount of time, but that never feels long enough for somebody who's been in the, in the home for decades. And so, you know, I think too, it's, it's also be thinking when, when you're out there comparing, when you get offered a place, it's quick and you have to make a decision quickly because these, even though some of these, these, uh, retirement villages talking about, they're building new ones.

Veronica: And so they have, they have lots of rooms available, lots of apartments available. Quite often people in established areas will be looking at a particular retirement village and it won't have. Plenty available. They do have to go on a waiting list for the one that they want to come available. And when it does come available, there's a lot of pressure to take it and to, to jump.

Veronica: 'cause you really have to plan the whole thing out and you have to get yourself primed, ready to go, you know? So then they go, bang, you press the button and it feels a lot less stressful. So I would, I would add that in as well. I think while you're comparing, think about how you gonna fund it, how you gonna get there and, and perhaps get some financial advice too, just to work through those, those scenarios and those options. So I.

Mitch: No, I, I agree. It's, it's funny. I'll just give you a quick, when, when I was studying,~ um,~ we did a case study ~ uh,~ in Florida, obviously big retirement area, and they were struggling with sales at the time. A lot of the retirement villages or whatever they call the names over there, similar retirement village, they just couldn't get people to purchase.

Mitch: You know what you're gonna pay for because the point, the, the point of retirement villages for a long time, you want 10 plus years out of it. You know, residential aged care is only two and a half years. Most of the time. Resident,~ uh,~ retirement village. You want for a long time. You want to enjoy it and stay there for as long as possible and stay out of aged care.

Mitch: That's the goal.

Veronica: You weren't giving advice, insights that you're giving

Veronica: today. Thank you very

Mitch: As much information. No, thank you for having me. Hopefully, uh, so someone was able to learn something, take something away from this. ~Um, ~but yeah, if you ever, if you ever want me to come back more than happy to.

Veronica Morgan: If you have a question that you'd like us to answer in an upcoming q and a episode, you can send us a voicemail or written question via the website. The elephant in the room.com au. Or you can email us directly at questions at the elephant in the room.com

Veronica Morgan: au.

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